Beslan murderer Basayev bites the dust. Let's hope the initial reports are correct. Note how the media is not trying to systematically downplay his importance as a terrorist (as they did with Zarqawi). Both were significant and both are done for good.

UPDATE: It seems that Basayev was blown to pieces by a truck bomb. Poetic justice.

The reaction of politicians and journalists in Germany to the massacre in Beslan was all too predictable.

After uttering a few predictable words regretting the murder of children, the vast majority of German media pundits and politicians turned to criticizing Putin. Putin created the terrorist reaction with his harsh policies; thus Germany’s girlie-men urgently recommend that, in his reaction to the brutish (my adjective, not theirs) massacre, he should most definitely not choose a tough, resolute line. The war against terrorism must, rather, be pursued by “political means” whatever that might mean. The recommendations about which political means should now be substituted for bellicose ones when dealing with terrorists are characterized, to the point of embarrassment, by their futility.

In a telegram made public by his office, Germany’s president wrote that the attack had caused the gravest concern. “[Terrorism]…is a threat to us all. We will only be able to successfully fight against it when we discover its causes and address them with political means as well.”

The EU is firmly seized by reflexive, skeptical questioning of Moscow’s motives concerning all events having to do with the Chechen conflict. And so, although Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who was in Valkenburg last Friday, did indicate that he was “shocked that so many people died, especially children,” he added, in a tone indicating admonishment, that “we must oppose terror. We must oppose it politically, only politically.”

“Putin only knows the language of toughness…cowardly considerations - perhaps letting an international peacekeeping force, under a UN mandate, calm the storm in the northern Caucasus - are nipped in the bud by the Kremlin.”

We briefly interrupt to accommodate the readers’ desire to giggle. UN peacekeepers in the Caucasus? For the first time I feel something like a twinge of pity for the Islamic terrorists – they deserve a more worthy opponent than Kofie Annan’s Keystone Cops:

UN peacekeeping force, on their way to the Caucasus region, as requested by German media... (Front row, first on the left: German stormtrooper)

On Thursday Russian President Putin said that the primary goal was to protect the lives and health of the victims. But because Putin had a second primary goal – demonstrating uncompromising toughness toward the Caucasian rebels - that goal, yet again, was not achieved. Obviously, the two goals are irreconcilable. … The entire Caucasus is a powder keg. If Putin doesn’t want to put out the burning fuse, others must push him into doing it. That certainly won’t be the end of the terror. But it would be a beginning and the war against terrorism would have made progress.”

“Russia needs an open debate about its policies vis a vis the Caucasus, argued without government interference in, inter alia, media that are allowed to freely inform the public about events on Russia’s southern flank. Putin would have to change course to allow this. Unfortunately all signs indicate that he’s too weak to undertake such a show of strength.”

...and so on...

These appeals for a political solution come from a country in which politicians and media mavens are entwined in the endless conduct of months-long, fruitless discussions about the most banal details of its socialist health care system. They come from a country that, thanks to plans to moderately reform its welfare system to approach international standards, has moved to the edge of popular revolt. They come from a country in which terrorists, with minimal effort, can conspire and develop terrorist attacks for years on end – and, when they’re finally discovered, don’t have to fear any punishment. They come from a country that cannot transport its own soldiers to international deployments in its own military aircraft because it doesn’t have any such aircraft.

These calls for political measures to deal with terrorist threats come from Germany.

The country where the people trust neither their politicians nor their policies.

Masses of Dead Children: Never Forget 9/11, Never Forget Beslan, Death to the Terrorists!

This is the enemy we are up against, gutless cowards who shoot children running for their lives in the back. These are the same people who did 9/11.

The faces of the murdered: Nobody is safe from this terror, tomorrow it may be our kids and our schools in our neighborhoods...

There is no such thing as negotiation with people who murder hundreds of innocent children by shooting them in the back and blowing them apart. The people responsible for this and all who support them need to be mercilessly exterminated. Suggesting, even in the slightest, that there can be a "political solution" with people like this as German Foreign Minister Fischer did is to spit on the grave of every dead child in Beslan. It is the disgusting, revolting reaction of a politician blinded by suicidal pacifism.

And for a change of pace I'd like to criticize the US media. No, a hurricane and Clinton's bypass are not more important than this story...have people already forgotten about the towers? So it doesn't matter as much because it happened in Russia and a couple hundred of their kids got blown away by Moslem-Al-Qaeda whackos? We all might just be the next ones this happens to, it is time to WAKE THE F**K UP PEOPLE. What's the matter US media, afraid this story might help Bush because it is terrorism, why don't you get your heads out of your collective asses and report on this the way that you should.

One last thing: I sure don't hear an awful lot of Moslems condemning this or out in the street marching against this or 9/11. Every Moslem or so-called Moslem who fails to condemn this act and any act like it is damning themselves and their religion before the world. It is just that simple.

At this very moment it is too early to know the precise number of hostage takers killed or captured.

In any case, it is important to keep some simple liberal rules in mind just in case one or more freedom fighters survived the attacks by the Russian police and were taken into custody:

1. We may not condone their killings - if there were any at all -, but we have to look for the root causes for a better understanding of their behavior. Were they inconvenienced in practicing their religion? Delays during rush hour in Chechnya? Election losses? Only if we know exactly what drove these young men and women to their somewhat regrettable actions can we make a final judgment.

2. Avoid the term "terrorists" for the hostage takers by all means. They have families with mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and it would be a great disservice for them to have their relatives labeled with derogative terms.

3. The hostage takers have full rights for proper legal procedure. They should be assigned the best lawyers available, preferably from France or Germany. Both countries have a proud tradition of setting proven terrorists free, either as a result of faulty court hearings or by giving in to blackmail.

4. It must be investigated in full detail if Putin is behind the hostage taking. He has every interest in the world to appear as a hardliner, and he desperately needed another victory over Chechnyan freedom fighters. While this is only a non-confirmed hypothesis so far, we have not heard any rejection of it from official Russian government sources - which is quite telling in itself, of course.

5. There can be no - repeat: NO - capital punishment for the hostage takers. Capital punishment is a cruel and inhuman act that violates the human rights of the accused.

6. We request that an internationally reputable organization such as the Red Cross be permitted to monitor conditions and report cases of abuse and torture in the prison where the hostage takers are held.

7. Free flow of information between the imprisoned hostage takers and their peers from Al Qaida must be permitted at all times. Access to telecommunications and the internet must be guaranteed.

8. The search for a political solution of the conflict is imperative. Meetings between representatives of the Russian government and the hostage takers, under the supervision of the United Nations, are the only way out of the crisis. The cycle of violence has got to stop!

We will keep you posted on any human rights violations by the Russian government. The hostage takers deserve a fair and transparent legal procedure.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I hate to mention this, but there are occasional visitors to this site - often, but not always, from Russia - who take this posting seriously and start complaining about it. This is sarcasm, folks! So - no, I don't think the terrorists should be treated nicely. And yes, I hope they're all wiped out and killed. Just click on the two "HERE" links above if you doubt this.

There can be no excuse, no justification and no explanation for the murder of scores of innocent children by terrorists. There can be no negotiation, no compromises and no attempts to politically appease such terrorists. These fanatics and terrorists need to be destroyed before they destroy us. It is that simple.

So it is all the more appalling to see German media types and politicians like Joschka “everyone loves me because I don't really stand for anything” Fischer point blame at Russia in a situation like this. His criticism is no different than blaming the United States for 9/11. It is no different than blaming Israel for suicide bombings. It is all part of the usual cycle of ignorance that prevails in much of Europe, especially on the left. No one can be to blame for such horrific acts but the terrorists and those who harbor and support them. The victims deserve our solidarity at a time like this, not our know-it-all politicians trying to criticize them or give them advice.

Again, there is nothing anyone could say or do to justify this type of terror. The people who commit these acts need to be wiped off the face of the earth and fought by all means necessary. Stopping and asking why the terrorists hate us would be like Jews stopping and asking why Nazis hate them. They hate because they are intolerant fanatics who want to force their barbaric vision of the world onto all of us. We shouldn’t wait around moralizing until they come to our school or our doorstep to murder our children.